It is well known that content rights holders license their content to different broadcasters and exhibitors. Many times those content rights license holders also license out their rights in parcels across different media platforms such as theatrical, wireless, retail, pay per view, online as well as parceled domestic and international rights. Generally speaking, the term “platform” encompasses the underlying system and standards that are used to provide a particular service. The platform refers to the combination of standards that provide the operating environment for the specific service. The platform may specify an Application Programming Interface (API) that provides functions or conventions by which the application accesses lower-level services. Media platform may be a digitized platform for media that allows real-time and/or delayed delivery of video, audio and/or data to multiple networks such as telco, cable, satellite, digital terrestrial broadcasting and broadband. Delivery can be made via a variety of devices possibly including mobile phones, set-top boxes, PDAs and computers. Often the content can be produced generically, eliminating the need for platform-specific content production tools.
Currently, several models exist that have distributors of certain media rights exercising the right to distribute licensed content across one or more bargained for media platforms. There are scores of media distributors distributing millions of pieces of content, from ring tones, to films, to television, radio programs to computer software covering both cached programming and live events. Some distributors may be solely focused on distributing a certain type of content for certain devices. For instance, there are some distributors who distribute only ring tones to certain cell phone service providers and only to certain compatible cell phones. There are also many distributors who distribute to multiple formats such as brick and mortar retailers, wireless service providers and digital online distribution services. The range and breadth of distribution reach and content carried, both licensed and unlicensed content, by specific distributors, runs the gamut.
Conventional models have different distributors parsing out software, free radio, pay radio, pay per view (PPV) or video on demand (VOD), cable & broadcast rights and multimedia online content to different exhibitors and, in some cases, the content originator, distributor and exhibitor may be the same entity. The result is that of the millions of available pieces of available content, only music distributors who sell individual songs aggregate over a million possible content size kind units (skus) for purchase from the tens of millions of existing skus available to the market place for possible purchase.
Unfortunately, this has created a fragmented marketplace where it is currently impossible to go to one source to fill the content needs for all of ones electronic devices.
Accordingly, there is a need for a single broadband portal where all content may be delivered to users of varied electronic devices. As rights to such content are in the hands of multiple content providers, distributors and exhibitors, there must be a substantial amount of cross licensing and shared distribution to enable one interface to deliver all of this content across multiple formats to multiple devices.